Seems like one politician after another is always saying that we need to “have a national conversation about (fill in the blank).” Well I have an idea for a topic. It begins with asking people one simple question:
“Who should pay for your retirement: you or someone else?”
The answers Americans give to that question will tell us whether or not the U.S. has any hope of surviving the leftist coup d’état that is presently in play. But of course, no one on the national stage is going to ask that question. God forbid we should have a national discussion that begins by first establishing a set of principles that we agree – or insist – upon.
I'm sorry to say it but Obama and the democrats have already won the day on the payroll tax debate. That’s because they have managed to steer the conversation completely away from the real principle at stake (should people be expected to save for and fund their own retirements?), and instead have made this a debate about whether or not the middle and lower classes can “afford” to have their taxes raised at this time and who is better able to afford a tax increase: the wealthy or the not-wealthy. As is always the case, republicans (with the exception, perhaps, of Michelle Bachmann) have fallen blindly into the democrat’s trap. They’ve said that they are willing to work with Obama on extending the payroll tax cut so long as it’s “paid for.” The baby step we took towards socialism by allowing the payroll tax cut in the first place has now become a giant leap, because a luxury once sampled becomes a necessity. People now feel entitled to that tax cut, even though the obligation that was being funded – their future retirement benefit – didn’t go away. And now they are being encouraged to believe that someone else should pay for it, whether it be the wealthy who pay higher taxes or whether it’s “paid for” in some other way. No matter how it’s done in the end it will be another wealth transfer made permanent. Touché, Mr. Obama.
There was only one way to save the day, and that was for influential republicans (like the presidential candidates, John Boehner, Paul Ryan or even Rush Limbaugh), to make this a fight about principle by asking people for an honest answer to the question:
“Who should pay for your retirement: you or someone else?”
